For more than a decade, the Norwin 12 and under baseball team has made an annual trip to Cooperstown, New York, to compete in a week-long national tournament at Dreams Park Field. Earlier this month, the Knights made the nearly seven-hour trek, which proved be a rewarding experience, both athletically and socially.

Norwin’s team, which competes locally in the Atlantic Coast Baseball league, arrived for the opening ceremony on Saturday, June 2. The following day, the Knights played their first two games, against the BPS Wolves from Alabama, and the Hunter Pence Baseball Danielson in Texas. Norwin prevailed 13-1 and 7-0, respectively.

On Monday, Norwin defeated the Georgia Rangers 15-10 in a slugfest, and followed that with a 5-4 triumph against the Florida Generals.

The Knights concluded pool play on Tuesday, as they defeated the New Orleans Makos 19-7, but dropped their final contest, 5-2, to the Florida Vipers.

With a 5-1 mark and 4.5 runs allowed per contest in pool play, Norwin was seeded 17th out of the 104 teams. That seed exceeded the objective that coach Daum initially set, but came up a bit short of the players’ expectations.

“I threw out a goal of being seeded 30 after pool play, and the kids came and said ‘no, we can be in the top 10,”’ Daum explained.

In the single-elimination tournament, Norwin trounced the Georgia Brookhaven Braves, 16-2 in four innings in the opening round.

Later on Wednesday in the round of 32, however, the Knights’ journey came to an end, as they fell 7-1 to the East Cobb Astros.

“He was a very good pitcher, and he had our number,” Daum said of the Astros’ hurler, who quieted the previously-potent Norwin lineup, which blasted 18 home runs during the week.

“The ultimately goal was to play into Thursday,” Daum added. “If we would’ve won Wednesday night, we would’ve played a No. 1 seeded team on Thursday morning.

“We really played solid baseball,” Daum continued. “We’ve played some tough teams in Western Pennsylvania so far this year, and it prepared us quite nicely for some of these teams that really brought in some hurlers.”

Away from the baseball field, the youngsters enjoyed an enriching experience, meeting and interacting with other kids from all across the country.

“It’s a great experience for the kids to be socially interactive with 1,000 other 12-year olds,” Daum explained.

The Knights also spent about three hours at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on Tuesday, which was the first visit for the vast majority of players.

With the extensive travel and all the activities involved, the annual trip to Cooperstown is not one that comes together easily, according to Daum.

“The parents and community really rally and make this happen. The parents are willing to put the work in to coordinate it, and the community always comes forth and really supports it,” he said.

“I can’t say enough about my coaches and the parents,” he continued. “Obviously, the kids go out and do it, but they’re in a good environment and they see supportive parents and good coaching, and they react accordingly.”

The Knights, which began their ACB schedule in April, return to play this upcoming weekend for the Penn Township tournament.